DentalNPI
Specialty

Dental Public Healths in the U.S.

Community dental health and policy practitioners. Featuring 60 top-ranked providers across 31 states, classified under the dental-public-health dental sub-specialty.

Verified · NPPES (CMS)refreshed May 7, 2026

National dental public health snapshot

Aggregates over 412 indexed dental public healths in 51 states.

Indexed providersNPPES

412

Across 51 states.

Medicare-enrolledCMS

44%

182 of 412 have CMS enrollment on file.

HPSA-servingHRSA

7%

27 practice in HRSA-designated dental shortage areas.

Avg practice locationsCMS

1.9

Mean across CMS provider enrollment records — oral surgeons trend higher because of multi-site privileges.

Median industry paymentOpen Payments

$61

Calculated over 155 dental public healths with disclosures. Higher in implant/oral-surgery specialties — disclosure is normal under federal Sunshine Act.

Top states

Underrepresented states (< 5 indexed)

Years in practice (graduation → today)

Among indexed dental public healths with a graduation year on file. Shape signals whether the specialty skews early- career or established.

  • 0–94
  • 10–192
  • 40+1

Browse dental public healths by state

Featured providers

Sorted by content score

Showing the top 60 nationwide. For deeper lookups, pick a state above.

What is a dental public health?

Dental public health practitioners work on community-wide dental issues rather than seeing individual patients in private practice. They run public health programs (Medicaid dental, school sealant programs, water fluoridation policy), do epidemiological research, and consult on access-to-care problems like dental HPSAs.

Training

After dental school, a public health dentist completes a 1- to 3-year residency that often includes a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. Board certification is through the American Board of Dental Public Health.

When to see one

  • You generally don't — this is a non-clinical specialty
  • County health departments employ public health dentists for policy and program work
  • FQHCs (Federally Qualified Health Centers) sometimes employ them as dental directors
Frequently asked

Questions about dental public healths

  • Can a dental public health practitioner see patients?
    They can — they're still licensed dentists. But the specialty itself is non-clinical, focused on populations and policy.
  • Where do dental public health specialists usually work?
    CDC, state and county health departments, FQHCs as dental directors, dental schools as faculty, and policy organizations.